Team DS9 pt5

Posted on Thu Oct 2nd, 2025 @ 2:25am by Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Commander Dean House & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis ie-Jia'anKahr & Commander Jennifer Baldric

2,035 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: For Bajor!
Location: DS9

Bonnie sat hunched on the hard bench outside the med-ward, her dress torn and streaked with soot, hands still stained from where she’d tried to stop the bleeding. Her chest hitched with every breath, tears slipping down unchecked as if her body had given up fighting them. Every sound from beyond the doors, the clatter of instruments, the muffled urgency of voices, made her flinch. Dean was somewhere in there, Commander Baldric, Kit too, and she couldn’t shake the feel of Kit’s weight sagging against her, or Dean’s absence when the others dragged him clear.

She kept her eyes down, twisting the fabric of her ruined skirt in trembling fists, whispering apologies that no one could hear. Apologies to Kit, to Dean, to anyone who might not walk back out. Her thoughts were a looping snarl: I should’ve done more, should’ve been faster, should’ve been inside when it happened. The rational part of her—the part that usually solved problems—was drowned beneath the tide of guilt and fear.

A shadow lingered nearby: Colonel Kira, arms crossed, her sharp gaze tracking the chaos of reports and officers moving up and down the corridor. She asked questions in clipped tones, demanding answers, demanding order, yet her eyes flicked now and then toward Bonnie. Hovering, but not intruding. Waiting, perhaps, for the moment Bonnie had steadied enough to speak, or for someone to explain how three officers and a relay room had been torn apart so suddenly.

Bonnie pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes, smearing ash into the tracks of her tears. She wanted to disappear into the floor, to not feel the weight of Kira’s presence, the weight of waiting. All she could do was sit there, heartbeat stuttering with every muffled cry from the med-ward, braced between the fear of loss and the shame of still breathing.

And in the back of her mind, that voice, like her own but more sinister, deadly. Telling her she was weak. Telling her to pull herself together, something she often did in front of her own mirror. A revealing truth perhaps.

Kasso had handed a young crying and inconsolable Astraea over to her father, Lakkak. "I'll take mom to the infirmary to be checked out, and I promise to get myself looked at also."

Kasso and Kitiuas's mother, Layas, had doubled over and vomited a few seconds ago, nearly collapsing, Kasso herself was nearly bent over with pain. She knew what had caused it, young Astraea had hit both her mother and herself with a psychic barrage of feelings. She, and she was sure her mother, even though she hadn't voiced it, knew exactly what had caused it, something bad had happened to Kit. This all happened when the station went to red alert. Now Astraea couldn't be consoled and her mother and herself were both feeling sick.

Lakkak, nodded as he took the screaming Astraea. "You do that." He knew something was horribly wrong, and it had to do with Kit. May the Thousand watch after all my girls. he thought, trying to console his granddaughter. Whispering to Astraea "Don't you worry little one, your Tahedri will see that who ever did this to my girls, my family; this I swear to you as my vengeance oath, for you Astraea, Layas, Kasso, and Kitiuas. Now come little one calm yourself so we can negotiate a deal with a ganzu Cajun I know, they owe me after all."

Kira moved closer to Bonnie, aware that most of the Sunfire crew were on shore leave, on the planet or elsewhere again. "You're from the Sunfire? Who's the ranking officer at the moment?" She asked, changing her tone as she directed her words at the strike woman. She reached and found some cleansing wipes, handing them to Bonnie to wipe her face and hands with.

Accepting the wipes, Bonnie struggled to think before realizing, "Um, that would be Commander Ramthorne, uh, Jenna. Do you, um, need me to contact her or..." She left the question hanging like a dangling past participle. Her mind raced about next of kin etcetera.

"I'll contact her and advise her of the situation." Kira started, then realised that Bonnie very badly needed emotional support. "Kira to Commander Ramthorne, report to the infirmary immediately" she then sat next to Bonnie and put a comforting hand on her knee. "They're doing everything they can to help him."

Kasso was helping her mother around the corner and saw two women sitting by the med bay surgical doors. She recognized one as a Bajoran and the other a a Human. What struck her was that the human had green blood on her. Kasso found a bench and slowly lowered her mother down onto it. "Wait her Tabadi, I want to speak with the two women over there."
Layas simply nodded. She was dizzy and nauseous; add to it the worry over her granddaughter and daughter.

Kasso silently glided over to the two females, overhearing their quiet conversation. She also confirmed that it was green blood on the human females clothes. "Excuse me, can you tell me where the visiting civilian medical infirmary are?" Even though she knew, she was wary about asking about getting involved in F'deraxt'la Starfleet business, Kit too often reminded her she was a F'deraxt'la citizen, not a Starfleet officer.

Inside, the station's Medical staff took over, getting Dean onto the main bio-bed station. Activating the life support slide cover over his chest. Trying to work on getting any sign of vitals above zero. They could induce it via the machines but that didn't mean it would make a difference. His file didn't say anything about a DNR, so that was in the realm of possibilities.

Over to one side, Commander Baldric was being restrained from moving whilst the medical team was attempting to heal her concussion. She was confused, but desperate to be beside Dean in what may be his final moments. There was so much left unsaid, and she needed to speak her truth to him in case he didn't return.

Minutes passed. The doors parted, and Jenna stepped in, boots clicking against the deck as she scanned the space. She caught sight of Bonnie first, crumpled in a chair, tear-streaked, Kira Nerys’ arm steadying her. The sight made Jenna’s stomach twist, though she forced her expression neutral as she crossed the room.

She stopped at a respectful distance, squaring her shoulders before addressing the senior officer.

“Colonel Kira,” she said evenly, her voice tight with restrained concern. “You asked for me. What’s happened?”

Her eyes flicked to Bonnie, then back to Kira, searching her face for answers she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear.

"There has been a situation involving some of your crew," Kira started, nodding towards the intensive care area of the infirmary. "3 were injured, one is critical."

"I trust an investigation is underway. Any suspects?" Jenna asked firmly, not prepared to jump to conclusions yet. "I trust this wasn't accidental?" She immediately began weighing her options. Depending on how bad the situation may be, she might have to contact Starfleet Command or worse, she'd have to recall the Captain from leave.

Kasso stood by almost invisible as she listened to the conversation. She knew her sister was most likely one of the wounded. She looked at the human female on the bench who had green blood on her. She would have the answer she sought. She reached over and lightly tapped her shoulder while the other two were discussing the situation.

Dabbing her eyes and then turning, Bonnie recognized the green skin of an Orion first, then familiar but different facial features next. She squinted through tear filled eyes, and the woman standing before her almost looked like Kit, but different. Once she found her words again, "Um, hi, are you um, you're Kit's sis-sister right?"

Kasso smiled gently, "Yes, I am Kitiuas's half-sister, and I believe something has happened to her." Kasso held her hand up before Bonnie could even deny or state otherwise. "Before you or anyone else tries to deny it, her child, Astraea, our mother, and myself know it is true. Astraea about blasted us with her strong emotions just as the klaxons sounded."

"All we know so far, is that they were investigating a security panel override in the central computer core. Commander Baldric, Commander House, and Ensign Thenis were badly injured; Lt Commander Durnell had mainly superficial injuries and is our main witness. Whoever did this might be back to finish the job. I've increased security patrols and assigned two deputies to the Infirmary' Kira explained in her no-nonsense voice. She was about to say more when the station's Doctor emerged from the ICU with a significant amount of blood on his uniform.

"Excuse me, Kira, we need to locate a Jenna Ramthorne. She is the only cross-matched blood donor we can find for Commander House. Urgently"

A thousand thoughts battered Jenna at once — questions she’d never imagined asking. Why her blood? How could she possibly be a match? Her pulse hammered, but she forced her feet forward, shoulders straight. “I’m Jenna Ramthorne,” she said, voice steadier than she felt. “Tell me what I need to do.”

"We need you to donate blood to Commander House, he's been critically injured. You are uniquely compatible with his physiology to be a donor. If you consent of course" the medical explained hastily, eyes darting to Jenna then back to Kira.

"Sure, whatever you need." Jenna gestured and then followed the Med tech. Internally, she wondered, in an age of replication, why they couldn't use Dean's own blood, replicate it, and then infuse however much they needed instead of taking from another. Then there was the fact she was an augment, her DNA and other trait aspects clearly different than most. Was Dean an augment too? If he was, she was not aware.

As Jenna walked away, Bonnie turned back to Kasso, "It's nice to meet you. Kit has mentioned you, recently in fact." She fluffed the ripped dress she was still wearing. "I had a wardrobe malfunction."

Kira's eyes turned back to Bonnie and the newly arrived Orion. "Do you need me to replicate you some new clothes?' She asked kindly, seeing Jenna walked off deeper into the Infirmary.

From behind the close door a frantic cry could be heard. "No! I have to see him!"

Kira's curiosity piqued. She mentally ran through the wounded, there was the Orion, a female and a male Sunfire commander. The voice was distinctly female. The medical team had reported she had a severe concussion as well as significant burns. Not a pleasant combination yet it appeared she was more concerned about her critical team mate.

"I, uh, don't really want to leave until I know what.. or rather if.. You know?" Bonnie stammered, her worries overriding her thoughts and words. Dean and Kit were two out of three friends she had made since joining the ship. Remal being the last. Her whole interpersonal circle was in that room, bleeding and practically lifeless.

Kira took a moment to sit next to Bonnie "They're doing everything they can. If theres any hope, they have the best chance in there" she said encouragingly. "Is there anyone i can call for you? Or is Commander Ramthorne going to look after everything?" She paused then continued with an almost rhetorical question. "Why would anyone do something like this? There's no logic behind it"

Bonnie perked up out of her stupor, brain already running on all cylinders, "Oh, that's easy. The virus they implanted initiated an automatic download of all of Bajors' weather satellite data. I was able to remove the virus, but it had already destroyed 75% of the information. Destroying the power to the data center would have effectively wiped the rest and covered their tracks."

"How do you know all this?" Kira asked carefully, giving Bonnie her full and undivided attention.

"Oh, how do I know?" She hem-hawed for a moment before admitting, "Because I wrote it, I think."

TBC

 

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